Friday, August 31, 2007

Well, I am getting ready for the DBA Slaughter down in Orlando. I have been assured that my Carthaginian Elephants will stomp down the slow marching Romans. Romans be ware of large pachyderms departing the ancient city gates. I decided to be evil and create a BUA that I can use in the Tournament. I figured if I went with a Ancient Greek type of BUA I could use it for the Greeks, Romans, and Carthaginians. I used Blue core foam for the hill. The trees were plastic Lilacsprues from Walmart. The pillars are simple wood dowels.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

I have been sucked into being interested in BUAs. I purchased this Castle from Al in Nashville. It is from JR buildings, I think it is a 6mm building. The flags are all removable. I mostly did this so that I could customize it to an Army and still use it for the rest of my medieval armies. This one has my 100Years English's Artillery Piece in it. Interesting way to utilize a gun in DBA is to put it in a BUA. This raises its defense by +3 and makes it able to fire 360 deg out to 500 paces. Looking forward to using this BUA in the near future against my friend Tony.

I started painting this army some time ago at my friend Tony's house. We got an itch to play Armotti. Well, it just never got off the ground. The painted stands sat for about 10 years in my figures cases. The figures were ordered from Wargames inc. out of West Virginia and are Essex. When DBA 2.2 came into play, I decided to re-stand and finish this army. Since then, I completed it with all the options. One thing I learned from finishing this Army was to wrap the flag around the staff or lance vs. a flat one glued onto it. I continually have to glue the multiple flags back onto spear shafts. Kinda annoying. Tony, Here are the mighty Pike!!

I believe I enjoy the 2x4Pk option the best. The 2x6Kn stands add an interesting twist and tactical options to this army. I should be knocking on some wood when I say that "So far they are 7 and 0, undefeated". Very diverse and combined force. If you have not tried playing the larger stands in DBA you should at least become familiar with them in order to fight back when they pull a "slicky boy" on you.

The Samurai Army was my very first completed Army. The figures are from Eureka in entirety. This army was also painted while deployed to Iraq in 2006. I am not entirely happy with the color selection and style that these troops were painted with. In general, I believe I should have not made them uniform. The camp was a hoot, I very much enjoyed building it. The base is blue core foam. The tree is twisted solder with putty overlayed on the wire. I found the Buddha at some mall and broke it to make it look like a old shrine. Not sure what possessed me to make the camp snow covered. I used a hobby snow called Snow-Tex by DecoArt. Just brush/clump it on and it hardens over night into a great winter look.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Carthage...What a great army. Unless of course you plan on winning. The army is extremly diverse but sorely lacks killing power. These figures are entirly from Corvus Belli. I painted this army in Iraq as well. I have no Idea why the company manufactures this Carthage army and the wrong Roman opponent. Any one know why? 3Cv, never will use this option but like having the choice to make.

Ok, So I love the 3rd Infantry Division.

The Wild Mercs.. The camp is made from Blue Core foam as usual. The tent is a resin Ottoman one.

This Hawaiian Army was started in Iraq in 2006. I did not get a chance to finally finish it until several months, after I returned home. I used figures from Nick at Eureka Miniatures, excellent clean castings. The camp was made of blue core foam and Elmer's glue. I carved the moon face idol to match the one that the holy man holds up on the General's stand. The water was an acrylic train resin that is easily melted on the stove and poured. lots of fun to use. Man!, was I tired of painting butt floss and banana hammocks.................................

My 100 Years' English Army is entirely of Corvus Belli miniatures. This Army has a lot of firsts in it for me; as both a, gamer and a painter. Firstly, as a DBA player, it has 6 Bw...yikes! At first I thought it would be a significant challenge to use all those Bw, then I realized that they were pretty easy unless Bd showed up in front of them. The second thing that was new with this Army was the basing. I added pieces of blue core foam to add dimension and height to the stand. Worked out great. The only real learning point was to use Elmer's glue vs. any kind of "super glue". The super glue makes the foam melt...very destructive.

Monday, August 13, 2007

I have been painting figures since 1979. My first "wargame" was Johnny Reb which I played in Gainesville, Florida with my neighborhood friends. Ever since then I was hooked. My friend and I began to play a modified 20mm squad level WWII game where I learned how to shade my figures. Recently, I changed focus and began the DBA addiction that I am currently on.